Introduction: Field Research Scholarship in Social Work Education

Julie L. Drolet, Grant Charles, and Sheri M. McConnell

This book brings together diverse perspectives on field education and practice research within academia and across the public and not-for-profit sectors to enhance knowledge and applied skills development. Social work scholars, practitioners, service users, and students offer new insights, practice experiences, case studies, and reflections which have the potential to transform social work field education. The book features contributors at various stages of their careers to foster a meaningful dialogue on the dynamic, complex, and multi-faceted nature of social work practice, research, and innovation in field education. Critical issues in social work field education are explored through field research scholarship. Current theoretical concepts and perspectives that shape social work field education are presented using practice research and case studies grounded in the experiences of diverse communities and countries.

Field education or practicum is a critical component of social work education. The Canadian Association for Social Work Education (CASWE) engages in activities to promote and support field education as a central component of social work education (CASWE, 2022). It is recognized as the signature pedagogy in social work education (Council on Social Work Education [CSWE], 2015). It is through practicum that students learn to integrate and apply the values, knowledge, complex practices, and skills of the social work profession. Field education experiences ensure that new professionals are entering the field practice in an ethical manner and with an established level of competence (Bogo, 2015). In terms of their professional training, it is critical that students enrolled in social work programs across Canada have opportunities for positive, educational, and quality field education experiences. This said, however, there is a crisis in the imagining and provisioning of field placements that needs to be addressed to ensure that quality learning experiences are provided to students at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

The collection of literature in this book focuses on the scholarly activity in field education that contributes to the resolution of this crisis by revisioning how the profession can prepare the next generation of social workers. With the recognition that the crisis is coupled with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a need to adopt more innovative and sustainable models in social work field education (Drolet et al., 2020). Many social work field educators report challenges with a high demand for field placements, due in part to rising student admissions, as well as increased pressures on field agencies that typically provide practicums to social work students (Ayala et al., 2019; Bogo, 2015). The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 created additional pressures for many students, social work field education programs, and field agencies. Despite these challenges, new opportunities and innovative approaches to field education, which are potentially beneficial in the current context, are emerging. The book adopts an inquiry-based learning and transformational approach that contributes innovative understandings of field education by providing new open access resources to inform social work field education, and specifically the integration of research in practice and field education.

New understandings and approaches are urgently needed to address the crisis in social work field education. As professionals, social workers are expected to use research to inform their practice and to contribute to the production of research. Yet many social workers are reticent to integrate research into their practice and into field education. The book is a product of the Transforming the Field Education Landscape (TFEL) partnership funded by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council’s Partnership Grant.

Transforming the Field Education Landscape Partnership

The Transforming the Field Education Landscape project brings together social work academic researchers, field educators, students, professional social work associations, and partners who share concerns about the state of field education in Canada and internationally. The project is built on an inquiry-based learning and a transformational approach to create “opportunities for students and postdoctoral fellows to explore, identify, and develop promising practices for integrating research training in social work practice” (Drolet, 2020, p. 7). The goal of the TFEL project is:

To integrate research and practice in the preparation of the next generation of social workers by developing partnered research training initiatives, both within academia and across the public and not-for-profit sectors, that enhance student research practice knowledge and applied skill development. (Drolet, 2020, p. 3)

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the TFEL project’s research and related activities shifted online in March 2020. Research and related activities, training, and mentorship were supported using Microsoft Teams and Zoom. Field placements were also disrupted and moved online due to the pandemic, and TFEL generated new practicum opportunities for students by creating sub-projects, including group projects and research on the impacts of COVID-19 on field education. TFEL supervised 29 practicum students (20 graduate practicum students and nine undergraduate practicum students) between April 2019 and May 2022. Recognizing the importance of establishing the next generation of researchers, the Field Research Scholars Program was created by the project to facilitate research, knowledge exchange, and dialogue on research in field education.

Field Research Scholars Program

The Field Research Scholars program is a unique opportunity for emerging scholars and early career social work academics to present their research and obtain feedback from their peers in virtual seminars. In the 2020–2021 academic year, the program hosted 48 participants, including graduate, PhD, postdoctoral scholars, and early career faculty members. Each participant was invited to present on their research, and the Zoom recordings and PowerPoint presentations were published on the TFEL website (see www.tfelproject.com). Bi-weekly seminars were held on Zoom during the COVID-19 pandemic, which expanded access for many participants.

This book is an outcome of the Field Research Scholars program and offers an original contribution to the literature on the integration of research into practice and field education. The book is organized in four sections and includes 16 chapters written by 30 scholars as contributing authors. Each section of the book was edited by a Canadian social work faculty member serving as a section editor: Julie Drolet, University of Calgary; Grant Charles, The University of British Columbia; Sheri M. McConnell, Memorial University; and Marion Bogo, University of Toronto.

The book aims to stimulate interest in and discussion on the critical role of research and scholarship in social work field education in Canada and internationally, by creating a space for dialogue and collaboration around the integration of research in field education. Overall, the book adopts a mixed methods research approach. Several chapters report on qualitative studies, present case study research grounded in specific communities or country contexts, and narrative reflections to inform their writing in the chapters.

The book development and writing process was supported by the TFEL partnership through the Summer Institute 2021 on Academic Writing in Field Education, which was designed to provide support and mentorship to the contributors in their writing process. Workshops were held throughout the summer. The contributions in this collection work together to create a coherent whole in discussing research and scholarship in the context of field education. In this book, authors explore how social work engages in practice, policy, and research, and the implications for field education in diverse contexts.

Outline of the Book

This book is organized in four parts: field education practice, research, and theory; anti-racist and Indigenous knowledges, methodologies, and perspectives; social justice, advocacy, and international social work; and new developments and approaches in field education. Collectively, these sections provide a picture of the challenges and possibilities around the world, as social work field education intersects with research. As a collection, the chapters demonstrate the ways in which the social work profession is navigating and challenging the status quo towards social development and social justice.

Field Education Practice, Research, and Theory

The first section of the book focuses on field education practice, research, and theory. Many longstanding practices in field education are being critically analyzed given the realities of the COVID-19 pandemic. The need for quality and accessible placements that provide learning opportunities for students in diverse sites remains an important concern for many social work education programs. The development of new practices and ways of conducting field have emerged for discussion and debate given the significant challenges of the global pandemic. This section of the book situates key concerns in addressing barriers to accessing practicums, field supervision by non-social work practitioners, enhancing equity and accessibility through the field placement process, and development social work theory in Africa.

In chapter 1, Natalie Beck Aguilera, William Lamar Medley, C. Gage, and Annelise Hutchison discuss the social and economic implications of unpaid practicums for social work students. The chapter begins by situating the current reality of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has demonstrated significant and disparate experiences for members of systematically oppressed communities and social groups. The authors argue that students also have been affected by the social and economic implications of the pandemic, including economic marginalization. The authors trace the history of the social work profession beginning with a discussion about the early perception of social workers as not “deserving” financial compensation for their care work given their gender roles as women. This early tradition influenced the tension between today’s academic and direct service demands of the social work practicum, and how many field agencies continue to rely on students’ unpaid labour. The authors discuss unpaid internships as a practice that perpetuates inequality among students along class divides that benefit students who can afford to independently finance their studies, or who are supported by others, while pursuing their education. Furthermore, the authors show how students who juggle competing responsibilities during their practicum face financial hardships and experience economic oppression created in part by practicum requirements and policies. The consequences and implications of unpaid practicums for students are discussed, and a case study illustrates the challenges experienced from a student perspective. Recommendations are provided by the authors, including the need for a safety net to mitigate exclusionary practices and to support paid practicums in the form of stipends or wages allocated to students. The authors demonstrate how the global pandemic has created new opportunities for rethinking previous field practices with the goal of dismantling barriers experienced by students through an equity lens. With the increasing costs of tuition and rising living expenses due to inflation, the authors suggest that universities can play a role in funding social work practicums. The practices discussed in the first chapter of the book aim to improve students’ access to social work practicum, offering important implications for field education programs that can ultimately increase diversity in social work education and the profession while supporting economic justice.

In chapter 2, Karen Lok Yi Wong presents an ongoing debate in the field of social work on whether social work students should be matched with non-social work field supervisors during their placements. The author outlines the benefits for students in learning from non-social work field supervisors, such as new approaches and perspectives with diverse and multidisciplinary backgrounds in a community senior service setting. The chapter also outlines several concerns with respect to the development of one’s social identity as a social worker. Drawing on personal experience as a graduate practicum student during the COVID-19 pandemic, the author presents a critical self-reflection using reflexivity on her placements in two agency settings. The first field agency was a community senior service centre in Downtown Vancouver, the second was a university research institute on ageing and technology. As the only social worker in both field agencies, the author presents the role of the field supervisors, the field education coordinator, and the faculty liaison in her placements. The chapter highlights the importance of collaboration and relationships in working with non-social work supervisors, particularly in healthcare and social services. Reciprocal learning was reported as a feature, given that field supervisors were exposed to the scope of social work practice and the benefits associated with a social work perspective within the agency context. Frequent communication and prior supervision experience were factors that contributed to the successful practicum experience at the graduate level. The chapter shares fruitful learning experiences on the benefits and challenges associated with non-social work field supervision.

In chapter 3, Alise de Bie, Janice Chaplin, and Jennie Vengris consider issues of equity and accessibility in the field placement process particularly for students from equity-deserving groups including racialized, Indigenous, 2SLGBTQ+, and disabled students. The School of Social Work at McMaster University is located in the urban centre of Hamilton which served as the site of placement learning for this chapter. The chapter discusses how members of the field education team and a field instructor created student-led caucus groups for racialized, Indigenous, queer/trans, and disabled students, which resulted in student-led research projects, reports, presentations, and events on 2SLGBTQ+ inclusiveness in field education, accessibility, and disability inclusion in the social work program. Social work students’ experiences of racism also were discussed. An online survey and in-person focus groups and interviews were conducted in 2017 with 30 racialized, Indigenous, 2SLGBTQ+, and/or disabled students and recent alumni to learn about their field education experiences. The chapter focuses on how the findings from the study were used to enhance equity and accessibility in field education by preparing students for placement; recruiting and training field instructors to provide effective supervision; spending time matching students for placement leading to more positive experiences; considering identity-related student and field instructor matching processes; and creating pre-placement interview guides to facilitate student disclosures and equity/identity-related needs.

Also, an important dimension raised in this chapter is the importance of relationality in field education, which is explicitly discussed. The authors explain how new placements opportunities were explored in organizations that do racial justice work with 2SLGBTQ+ communities and Indigenous community partners; yet they noted that these opportunities still present some significant challenges owing to funding precarity in a neoliberal context. High staff turnover due to under-resourcing and unsustainable placements require ongoing connection and negotiation, and, oftentimes, additional supervision and support to non-social work field supervisors. The chapter highlights a reality whereby colleagues from equity-deserving groups are already over-subscribed to represent and provide access to their communities within the university context. Increased representation of faculty from equity-deserving groups would be conducive to an equitable labour load, while facilitating new placement-generating connections. The chapter provides many insights into the approaches adopted by the field team to engage alumni, the complexities of placing equity-deserving students in new field opportunities, and the preparation of students as future field instructors. Further, this chapter demonstrates the importance of engaging in change-oriented field research and evaluation projects to enhance equity and accessibility in field education teaching and learning.

In chapter 4, Emmanuel Chilanga considers development social work theory in Africa, and how social work theory, practice, and policy should shift from Eurocentric to Afrocentric pedagogies. Using a scoping review of the literature, the author examines developmental social work pedagogies in Africa. He then discusses the need for social work education to address quality of life factors on the continent that are influenced by poverty, unemployment, food insecurity, HIV/AIDS, malaria, and the COVID-19 pandemic. The author calls for localized and Indigenous approaches in developmental social work to facilitate human development. The results of the scoping review discuss curriculum-related activities including field education, social development, teaching methods, student projects and assignments, and extracurricular activities, such as creating Indigenous teaching materials, locally relevant research, and networking. Similar to other chapters in this book, field education is identified as a critical component of social work education. A number of universities in South Africa, Lesotho, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, and Malawi have adopted a developmental social work perspectives in social work education, despite some common challenges including inadequate local resources, limited research, field education challenges, and lack of social work regulatory bodies. Consistent with Kelemua Zenebe Ayele and Ermias Kebede’s contribution in this volume, which explores social work education in Ethiopia, Chilanga calls for locally relevant and Indigenous knowledge in development social work theory and field education in Africa. Social work is a rapidly growing profession in Africa, and social work academics and field educators are encouraged to adopt developmental social work to effectively address social problems and challenges.

Anti-racist and Indigenous Knowledges, Methodologies, and Perspectives

Section two of the book brings together chapters on anti-racist and Indigenous knowledges, methodologies, and perspectives. The section begins with Zipporah Greenslade’s reflection on her search of anti-racism education as a graduate student in social work education. This discussion on anti-racism is followed by three chapters, each taking a unique approach to how social work needs to recognize culturally responsive practices, intersectionality, and critical race and social identity perspectives.

In chapter 5, Greenslade presents her anti-racism education research journey, informed by an autoethnographic research project and her location as a Black researcher and practicum student. She presents on the vital role of critical conversations in anti-racist education and how social work field education can play an integral role in connecting theory to practice. She begins her discussion by exposing the context and the need for anti-racist social work education and field education. Critical race theory is proposed as a foundation to engage in anti-racist social work education, and to address racism and examine structural inequalities. A practicum case example is presented to set the context for the author’s narrative reflection: entitled “A Conversation with Myself,” it explores a practicum incident in depth through questions raised about racism and the emotional burdens placed on racialized students. By giving voice to her experience, the author is contributing valuable knowledge to field research scholarship in anti-racist field education.

Alexandra K. Mack poignantly demonstrates in chapter 6 racial and ethnic disproportionality and disparity within the modern-day child welfare system. To address the overrepresentation of racial and ethnic populations in child welfare, her chapter proposes culturally responsive practices in service engagement. The author argues that building a culturally responsive workforce is a development process that includes workforce diversity, the assessment of strengths and growth, and anti-racism training. The chapter presents four pillars of the child welfare system as implemented in the United States: (1) Front Door pillar, (2) Temporary Safe Haven pillar, (3) Well-Being pillar, and (4) Exit to Permanence pillar. Drawing from a field practicum at a Child and Family Services Agency in the US, she provides insights and implications for promoting culturally responsive practices in field practicum settings.

In chapter 7, Endalkachew Taye Shiferaw, Helen Asrate, and Afework Eyasu discuss the lived gender disparities of three Ethiopian women in their pursuit of education. As social work doctoral students, themselves from Ethiopia, they collaborated in an exploratory study with three Ethiopian women in order to understand the experiences and meanings of earning a PhD. Intersectionality theory is used to consider the various multilayered identities of the participants in the study and to discuss the social identity factors, such as spirituality, family background, economic situation, culture, and personal values that influenced their educational and personal journeys. Each case in the chapter provides the context, background, and quotes in the voices of the women participants to illustrate salient and key points. It also provides a cross-case analysis that illustrates how the three women, in the pursuit of higher education, faced significant challenges, traveling away from their families, overcoming health concerns requiring special supports, and, in one case, experiencing forced migration due to political conflicts. The women academics were found to be engaged in multiple activities and responsibilities, including caregiving for children and parents, and managing domestic work. They experienced economic hardships, marital separation, and discrimination from family members, friends, and other faculty members, instructors, and classmates during their studies. Despite these challenges, the women in the study attributed their academic success to support provided by parents, family members, spouse(s), and their dedicated pursuit of their education. Spirituality, family support, and personal strengths were seen as contributing factors towards their success and education. The chapter concludes with a call to address gender-based discrimination in accessing higher education, and the need for field education programs to consider the recruitment of rural placements for practicum students to mitigate accessibility barriers to education and, at the same time, address local realities.

In the final chapter of this section, Anita R. Gooding, a licensed clinical social worker and researcher, demonstrates the importance of use of self in relation to social work identity, values, and knowledges. Chapter 8 begins with a discussion on the need for critical questioning about key assumptions and dominant identities, like Whiteness, in the social work classroom. Critical race theory and social identity theory provide the framework for exploring race as a component of use of self, and the author demonstrates its applicability in all areas of social work practice. Specifically, race and racial categories affect the ways in which social workers, particularly BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour) social workers, engage with use of self in their work with students and within the supervisory space. The profession of social work is called to do more to uplift the subjugated knowledges, advance marginalized voices, and create space for counter-narratives to offer a deeper understanding of social structures in the process of social change. This chapter connects with Zipporah Greenslade’s in the same section in considering the supervisory relationship and how racial categorizations affect how a social worker is perceived, and when race is activated as a social identity in the context of field education. Anita R. Gooding demonstrates how both theories (critical race theory and social identity theory) contribute to explaining how race may influence use of self in the context of the student-field instructor relationship. By naming race, field instructors and students co-create an opening to engage in meaningful conversations about race and how a racialized identity informs use of self in building relationships in social work practice.

Social Justice, Advocacy, and International Social Work

The contributions in this section focus on social justice, advocacy, and international social work. The section begins with Vibha Kaushik’s examination of the need for social workers to learn about immigrant and newcomers’ settlement and integration experiences. Chapter 9 focuses on the development and integration of immigration content in the curriculum, and, specifically, the need for practitioners to respond to the challenges faced by immigrants and refugees in field education. A discussion of voluntary and forced international migration provides the context for this exploration. Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) funds the Settlement Program to offer a variety of services and supports offered by the immigrant serving sector, which are designed to benefit immigrants and help them integrate into Canadian communities. In Canada, there has been an increasing interest in building capacity in the social work profession for working with immigrants and newcomers. Despite the critical role of field education in preparing students for social work practice, there is a dearth of field placements in immigrant serving agencies and organizations. This chapter also speaks to the challenges raised in chapter 2 by Karen Lok Yi Wong on whether social work students should be matched with non-social work field supervisors during their placements. The chapter explores this practice challenge and offers some questions and options to consider in support of the development of practicum placements with immigrant serving agencies.

In this section, the authors of chapter 10, Kelemua Zenebe Ayele and Ermias Kebede, offer an overview of social work and field education in Ethiopia. In their study, they consider the opportunities and challenges in social work field education with respect to promoting social justice. Drawing on their experiences at the University of Gondar, a partner in the TFEL project, the authors discuss the historical context of social work in Ethiopia and the resurgence of social work education in recent years. As new social work education programs are launched in Ethiopian post-secondary institutions, a number of challenges have emerged for field education programs. The lack of trained social work field instructors, the lack of sufficient numbers of placements for students, and the lack of dedicated financial resources for field education programs are discussed. The chapter situates social justice as central to the social work profession and distinguishes the profession from other disciplines, as “social workers” in Ethiopia are hired despite a lack of social work credentials or training. This discussion complements Chilanga’s articulation of developmental social work in the African context in chapter 4.

Chapter 11 focuses on community development field placements in Pakistan and presents a case study on community drinking water. Wasif Ali emphasizes the importance of community development to enhance human and environmental well-being in Pakistan. He demonstrates how local and international development agencies are engaged with schools of social work in research and training while contributing to the development of the social work profession. Field practicums, or internships, provide student learning opportunities in community development projects. In this chapter, a community drinking water project exemplifies the training of practicum students to engage in conducting needs assessments, community mobilization, participatory action research, building capacity, and monitoring and evaluation. The Punjab Community Water Supply Project aims to provide clean drinking water and health hygiene education during a time of severe water crisis in Pakistan. Social work practicum students are engaged in advancing the basic human right that is the provision of clean drinking water by working directly with affected communities. Ali’s chapter reports on the student learning opportunities in the project, demonstrating the importance of collaboration to address social and environmental justice issues in local communities. His study also draws attention to the context of social work and the history of social welfare and community development in Pakistan, where social work and field education face similar challenges experienced in other countries featured in this book. For example, Western influence in social work education is considered suspect by local populations, and the lack of formal arrangements to facilitate field education presents a serious obstacle for field coordination.

In chapter 12, Margaret Janse van Rensburg, Courtney Weaver, Christine Jenkins, Morgan Banister, Edward King, Sheila Bell, and the Ottawa Adult Autism Initiative discuss an advocacy practicum to establish a framework for virtual community consultations. The chapter presents a doctoral level advocacy practicum of 130 hours that was created by Carleton University’s School of Social Work. This chapter outlines the processes where members of the Ottawa Adult Autism Initiative were accompanied by an advocacy practicum student to create a strategy to host virtual consultations with the adult autism community in Ottawa, Canada. The chapter is informed by critical autism studies, which centres autistic persons as experts in autism, and critical pedagogy, which considers critical consciousness as a means for political participation. Together, the authors created an Instructions and Guidance Document and a set of recommendations to engage the adult autism community in virtual consultations. The chapter demonstrates the important contributions of a practicum student working in partnership with community members in a volunteer grassroots organization that aims to assist adults on the autism spectrum and their families in finding the support and services they need. The chapter shares the problem-posing education model that includes a four-phase process for consultations through dialogue that ultimately informs the future virtual community consultations. The importance of facilitation strategies, fostering positive attitudes and atmospheres, and leadership is explored. The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the importance for students to develop virtual social work practice skills such as the virtual consultation process described and explained in this chapter.

In chapter 13, Nicole Balbuena presents an important challenge facing social workers and social service providers when undocumented people are deemed ineligible for social services. The chapter critically examines how intimate partner violence (IPV) agencies that claim to offer services to all, regardless of race, sexuality, gender, and legal status, encounter institutional policies and practices that restrict the ability of service providers to deliver supports and services. Drawing on 12 in-depth interviews with IPV service providers, a study was conducted to examine how the legal status of the victims influenced the manner in which providers deliver their (in)formal services and resources in Orange County, California. The chapter reveals how restrictive eligibility and selection processes, fear of deportation while accessing services, and the lack of a valid social security number present structural barriers in a tense political environment that contributes, ultimately, to eliminate undesirable (prospective) clients. IPV agencies face internal and external structural and political barriers that result in the exclusion of undocumented clients. Social workers are advised to pay attention to legal and ethical challenges arising from oppressive systems and punitive immigration policies that shape the experiences of how undocumented immigrants receive and respond to services; these challenges additionally hinder social workers’ ability to provide formal support to the undocumented population. Further research and continued discussion about unjust immigration policies and discriminatory ideologies from institutionalized systems are needed for social workers to advocate and assist undocumented immigrants to overcome political, social, and legal barriers when accessing IPV services. This discussion has important implications with respect to undocumented immigrants and migrants accessing other health and social services. As stated earlier in this section by Vibha Kaushik, it is important to acknowledge immigration status as a component of diversity in social work practice.

New Developments and Approaches in Field Education

In the final section of this book, authors consider new developments and approaches in field education. The section begins with a chapter that considers field education during the COVID-19 pandemic. In chapter 14, Kaltrina Kusari considers social work field education and the abrupt shift to virtual course delivery and field placements during the onset of the pandemic. As a field instructor supervising social work students in the disability sector, she reflects on critical disability theories, the importance of field education, and the use of Information and Communication Technologies to facilitate practicum placements. She observes that the disruptions created by COVID-19 to field education provided both challenges and opportunities for innovation. Within the disability field, the shift to a virtual format created new opportunities for student learning. Despite the challenges that COVID-19 presented, it also offered a space to experiment with field education opportunities which were conceptualized as unconventional. Kusari suggests that virtual program and service delivery might be helpful in the future post-pandemic.

In the next chapter, Emma De Vynck, Jill Ciesielski, and Heather M. Boynton discuss how to support the development of spiritual competencies in field education and practice.

Chapter 15 is written collaboratively from the perspective of three social workers and researchers at varying stages in their professional and academic paths, each with a passion for increasing spiritual awareness and spiritually sensitive field practice in social work. Spirituality and spiritual struggles and trauma are informed by the authors’ personal practice and research endeavours, with implications for field education. The authors argue that the social work classroom rarely includes adequate exploration of spiritual and religious matters, and often students first encounter the spiritual elements of social work when they embark on their field placements. As they begin to engage with clients in the field setting, students may encounter spiritual and religious matters in clients’ narratives implicitly or explicitly. Apart from religiously affiliated agencies, practicum students often lack exposure to spirituality, and students may be ill-prepared to address the spiritual struggles or distress, trauma, grief, and loss that impact well-being. The authors explore the implications for a spiritually sensitive framework for field education.

In chapter 16, the section concludes with Ricardo Diego Suárez Rojas’s reflection on how to enhance brain potential in fieldwork education through the multimodal integration of imagination and trauma (MIIT) framework. Drawing on his community practice experience in Mexico and the United States, Rojas introduces nine working principles, with recommendations for field education. Field education is recognized as the signature pedagogy of the social work profession, representing the space in which students develop their professional capabilities and integrate theory and practice. The theoretical framework presented in this chapter recognizes that perception and movement rely on and depend upon multimodal integration (MI). The concluding chapter of the book provides a summary of the themes discussed in the book, in addition to an analysis of what was learned, what strengths were applied or developed, and the challenges faced by those who initiated or implemented field research activities. Implications and recommendations for social work field research scholarship are presented.

Conclusion: Transforming Field Education Research and Scholarship

The present book offers a number of unique features by focusing on research and scholarship in social work field education. This topic area has not received much attention in the field of social work. With the need for evidence-based practice, it is necessary to better understand how students and field educators can integrate research into their practice and develop new research skills and knowledge in the profession.

This collaborative work focuses on social work research in practice contexts and highlights the implications for field education. It especially brings together case studies, field research, and reflections from contributors located in diverse geographic regions such as Canada, United States, Ethiopia, Kosova, Mexico, and Pakistan. The chapters explore the social work values and ethics that guide social work practice in diverse contexts. Unique to the book is the range of international contributions and the breadth of knowledge displayed by the contributors at diverse stages of career (graduate and PhD students, postdoctoral scholars, and early career researchers). Training and mentorship too are a unique feature of the book, the process of which contributed to establish and strengthen the relationships between the contributors while making linkages between the chapters. The editors are convinced that this collection is the first scholarly work that responds to the contemporary realities and needs to showcase research and scholarship in social work field education.

References

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